Cinnamon Babka

Today was a dark, rainy, and dreary fall day.  The first really cold rainy fall day of the season, which put me in the mood to do some baking.   I could not decide whether to make bread, cinnamon rolls, an epiphany cake, of babka.  I did settle on the babka, after some thought, as the smell of bread and cinnamon baking is one of my favorite fall treats.

Babka, loosely translated as "old woman," is an eastern european desert bread, from the Jewish tradition.  It is made from a basic brioche dough, and usually made with either chocolate, or cinnamon filling.

Babka recipes tend to be closely guarded family secrets, so finding a good babka recipe can be a challenge.  This recipe has an authentic flavor, and is one of my favorite babka recipes.  I found this recipe at: http://www.justapinch.com/print/bread/sweet-bread/cinnamon-babka.html and broke it down into more steps, as the directions are not easy to follow in their original format.

I have given this an advanced rating, as the dough is very fragile, and requires some care when rolling and filling.  In addition, it is a yeast bread, requiring three rising cycles.  It has about a six hour prep to serve time, so a lot of time is needed, although three hours of the time is just waiting for dough to rise, and two hours are just for cooling.

Cinnamon Babka

Skill level:
Serves: 8

Ingredients

FILLING:

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted & cooled

1 large egg white, reserve yolk

2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground

1/8 teaspoon salt

DOUGH:

1/2 cup whole milk, heated to 110 degrees (2% will work fine)

2 large egg yolks

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, unsalted, cut into 8 pieces & softened

TOPPING:

3 Tbsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp sugar

Preparation

FOR THE FILLING:

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl; mix well. Set aside 1 Tbsp filling. (I usually use a small food processor). Set aside.

FOR THE TOPPING:

Mix cinnamon & sugar together; mix well. Set aside.

FOR THE DOUGH:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position & heat oven to 200 degrees F. When oven reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Grease large bowl. 
2. Whisk milk, egg yolks & vanilla together in 1 cup liquid measuring cup.
3. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, sugar, yeast & salt on low speed until combined. 

4. Slowly add milk mixture & mix until dough comes together, about 3 minutes. 
5. Increase speed to medium low & add butter, 1 piece at a time, until incorporated, about 1 minute.
6. Continue to mix until dough is smooth & comes away from sides of bowl, 10 - 12 minutes. NOTE: Once you've added the butter in this step, if the dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl after 5 minutes of mixing, add 2 - 4 Tbsp of extra flour.
7. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap & place in turned off oven until dough has risen slightly, about 1 hour. 

8. Place in refrigerator until dough is firm & has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
9. Line 8 1/2 x 4 1/2" loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang over edges. 
10. Punch down dough on lightly floured counter. Roll out dough to 20 x 14" rectangle. 
11. Spread all but 1 Tbsp reserved filling over dough, leaving 1/2" border around edges. (I find it easier to spread the filling if I warm it for 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave.)
    
    

12. Working from short side, roll dough into cylinder & pinch along seam to seal. Position cylinder seam side up & roll back & forth until stretched to 18" length. 

13. Spread reserved filling over top of cylinder. 
14. Fold cylinder on top of itself & pinch ends to seal. Gently twist double cylinder twice to form double figure eight. Place shaped dough seam side down in prepared pan, cover loosely with plastic & let rise in turned off oven until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 



15. Lightly beat whole egg in bowl. Remove loaf pan from oven & discard plastic. 
16. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 
17. Brush loaf with beaten egg & sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture. 

18. Bake until deep golden brown & loaf registers 190 degrees, about 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove loaf from pan & cool completely, about 2 hours. Serve. NOTE: If you use a standard 9 x 5" loaf pan, start checking the babka for doneness after 40 minutes.